Warm and Welcoming Taroudant

in Morocco’s calm south

It’s an understatement to say I was unsure about visiting Morocco. My memory of the one and only time I had visited over thirty years ago was dampened by what seemed like never ending hassle – cajoling shop owners and men desperate to be our guide – unable to take no for answer and men, men everywhere – bottom pinching, suggestive comments… And I was with my boyfriend, so the thought of returning as a solo female traveller was not appealing.

To add to my reluctance, I’d read several travel blogs written by women travelling alone in Morocco who’d had a very unpleasant time due to the amount of hassle from men.

But something was calling me. A few months prior in search of emotional and physical healing, I’d made a promise to myself to listen wholeheartedly to my heart and observe its whispers. My mind hadn’t been doing such a great job, so it was time to change tact and so far, it seemed working…

That summer my heart had led me back to Italy, to the small hilltop town, to the house that I associated with so much love and then heartache – a journey I’d put off for two years. However, the two months I spent there were a symbolic period of coming home to myself. A period of deep calm and reconnection with a part of my soul that had gone astray.

I thought I’d never want to leave such was the feeling of home. However, as summer faded, I lay on the roof terrace on my yoga mat with a duvet wrapped around me looking up at the vast night sky, watching star after star appear, a cool breeze brushing my face and I could tell my time in Italy was coming to an end. The desert wind was calling my name and as if to agree, a shooting star shot across the sky in a silver trail.

I contacted a friend who had enjoyed many solo trips to Morocco and to various locations and who seemed completed unfazed by it. She loved the country. I asked her where I should go for autumnal warmth and the place I’d least likely to be hassled and she said Taroudant. A Berber city in the south of Morocco, known for being calm and friendly.

Her words were then confirmed by what would become my Airbnb host, Laurent, when I asked him about safety. He stated that Taroudant was perhaps the safest city in Morocco, it’s small and everyone knows each other.

So that was where I headed.

And they were both right.

‘You’re welcome here’

‘You’re welcome here’ smiled a woman on my first venture into the city’s souk. I was contemplating the huge variety of dates, piled into mounds and trying to decide which to buy and the woman, also a customer advised me on the best. I went with her suggestion, picking some gorgeously plump Moroccan dates, that were indeed delicious. That initial welcome characterised the rest of my stay.

Taroudant really does have a calm welcoming atmosphere and, in my month long stay I didn’t experience any untoward attention or feel unsafe at any time. I felt perfectly at ease wandering through the city alone, visiting the souks, getting taxis and being in cafes.

Yes, occasionally shop sellers would try to tempt me in, yes occasionally a man would claim to be a guide and offer to show me around the city but a polite ‘no thank you’ was taken as no.

An impressive fortified city

Taroudant's impressive adobe city walls. — Taroudant with the Atas Mountains as a backdrop

Taroudant architecture — Taroudant feels a little like a film set

Taroudant is one of Morocco’s southern most cities, situated in the Sous Valley, making it warm most of the year around.

With the stunning Atlas Mountains as a backdrop, Taroudant is an impressive fortified city and when I say impressive, I mean it. The towering thick sand coloured adobe walls (structures made from sand, clay and straw) bordering the city, 8 kilometres in total, gives the feeling that you’re looking at a movie set for some epic Arabian movie… somewhat unreal.

However, the inside is very real. Taroudant is very much a working city, where locals live, work, pray and socialise. In its bewildering labyrinth of streets and alleys, little has been done to pretty it up and cater for tourists, which is incredibly refreshing.

Tourists here are few and far between, and the majority seem to be on what I presumed were guided day trips from nearby resorts such as Agadir.

You very much get the impression that the city has changed little in appearance for centuries (other than an incredible amount of mobile phone shops – I’ve never seen so many!) The narrow streets flanked by shops, stalls and cafes are a cacophony of horse and carriage taxis, cars, donkey carts piled high with produce, mopeds and lots and lots of bicycles.

Once a way from the main streets, smaller lanes give way to maze like tiny alleys, mostly residential and often dead ends. I got lost plenty of times but I quickly realised that if I headed in a sort of straightish line I would eventually end up at the city wall, and thus an exit!

One of Taroudant's prettier streets - all pink with butterflies and murals.

Place Assarag

There’s a central square named Alaouine Square, but more commonly known as Place Assarag, which I discovered in Amazigh (Moroccan Berber language) means the central room in a house where family life takes place, which I thought to be an enchanting name for a city square.

Place Assarag is the gathering point of the city, but even this seems sedate – men (mostly) seem to laze away the day sitting under trees, a few sellers set out their goods on the ground and the odd musician attempts to serenade café goers. It livens up a little at night, but nothing to get too overly excited about!

I have to say I was more enthralled by the architecture of the surrounding buildings. The faded wind battered hotel signs with names such as Hotel Roudani and Café Oasis gave an air of nostalgia that I couldn’t quite put my finger on but felt oddly comforting.

Hotel Roudani in Place Assarag, Taroudant

Olives, olives and more olives…

I’m not much of a shopper of objects – minimalism is my way, given my lifestyle; but I do love shopping for food especially in markets and for me one of the greatest pleasures of being in Taroudant was food shopping!

As I was in self-catering accommodation and cooking the majority of my meals, shopping for groceries was an absolute pleasure – very fresh in season fruit and veg, piles of fresh herbs, dates, figs, nuts, bread, preserved lemons and OMG the olives! I’ve never eaten so many olives in my life, they are cheap and delicious and marinated in so many different flavours…And the smell, intermingled with preserved lemons and fresh herbs is just scented heaven. You have to go to believe me…

Also, delicious olive oil – I’ve tasted lots of different branded olive oils, often very expensive from specialist delis, but here in Taroudant I bought a plastic bottle of unnamed olive oil from an olive stall and do you know what? It beats the olive pants off the expensive brands. Subtle, smooth flavouring…and very cheap.

The region is also known for argan oil, which as far as I knew just came in shampoo bottles but it’s also very tasty – nutty and delicious – and can be bought everywhere.

Olive stall in Taroudant medina — Olives!

Souks (markets)

dried rose and other spices in Taroudant souk

Taroudant has two main souks, named Arab and Berber.

The Arab Souk sells hand crafted goods such as silver ware, leather goods and rugs and the Berber, is more of your everyday market with fruit and veg, household goods, herbalists, argan oil, honey, and yes olives…

Sunday souk

On Sundays, there’s a huge outdoor market which again is just paradise for grocery shopping and what I thought was fab was that when buying veg, you pop all that you want into a bowl and regardless of what you’ve selected – be it potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines – the price is done on the total weight and not the individual item. This makes for quick and economical veg shopping.

Fresh herbs in Taroudant Sunday souk — incense

Eating out

You can of course also eat out.

Traditional tagine cafes cook tagines, usually vegetable, chicken and goat on individual charcoal burners. Simple, tasty and excellent value for money.

Man pouring water into tagines cooking on charcoal burners in in Taroudant city. — A traditional tagine cafe

If you’re looking for a restaurant, generally speaking they seem to offer pretty standard dishes – tagines and kebabs. I favoured the Complexe El Kasbah, next to the main gate of the city, Bab El Kasbah, because of the greater variety on offer and also because the restaurant was located in a pretty garden, which made a nice escape from the bustling dusty streets.

I have to say though that my favourite meals were cooked by my Airbnb host, Naima – her tagines were simply sumptuous. My friend, Victoria and her mum, Carmen, visited me whilst in Taroudant, and they also agreed that it was their favourite meal. I guess there’s nothing quite like homecooked food made with love.

Hammams, massages and being baked in mud

Whilst in Morocco, my plan was to seek out traditional wellbeing experiences in my continued search for mind, body and soul healing. I was very intrigued by traditional hammams. You can read about my very naked, and slightly surprising, communal hammam and let’s say somewhat more private and considerably more revitalising hammam experiences here:

Dar Al Hossoun’s earthy Hammam & Spa, Taroudant

Hotel Riad Dar Daif- a grounding hammam and exquisite massage in Ouarzazate

My first public hammam – it was an experience!

I also got lathered in mud, wrapped in plastic and left to slowly to bake!

My overall opinion on Taroudant

There is not a huge amount to do in the tourist sense, I believe there is a tannery, which I didn’t visit and you can visit argan oil producers, but as for museums and other tourist attractions Taroudant is not your place. The beauty of Taroudant is that it’s a thriving town, unspoilt by tourism and it’s the hustle and bustle, the colours and scents that makes it a captivating place to be.

On being a solo female traveller

I think Taroudant is really good for women solo travellers. It has a warm welcoming atmosphere and a feeling of ease, and safety. However, I didn’t spot many other women alone as it is quite off the beaten track and the majority of other tourists were in large tour groups, so it’s not necessarily somewhere where you’ll find it easy to meet other solo women.

Negatives

Getting around

Getting around within the city itself and within about a 2 km radius outside of the walls is easy, taxis both car and horse are very cheap, and usually easy to find. However, I had friends who were staying about 6 km out of the city in a beautiful Riad and arranging taxis was quite a faff because the local city taxis were by law only supposed to operate in the designated area and larger taxis, were quite expensive.

Male dominated cafes

One of the things that really struck me was the lack of females in cafes, this is a city where cafes are the domain of men. That is not to say, that women can’t go to cafes, and I did, and I certainly didn’t feel unwelcome. However, it did perturb me that there were no other women around. The exceptions were two restaurants on Place Assarag, that seemed to attract tourists and hence more females, the Complexe El Kasbah which has an altogether more contemporary feel, and attracts local women both on their own and with friends and the Complexe Maher Piscine Lastah, which was near my accommodation in the residential area of Lastah.

Tiout – oasis lounging

20 kilometres from Taroudant is Tiout, an oasis (in the real sense of the word) in an otherwise barren landscape. Tiout is a palm grove of refreshing greenery where you can wander under trees alongside the trickle of cool running water, or take a bathe in the outdoor swimming pool.

I visited Tiout with friends and I’d like to say that we spent the afternoon walking, but we didn’t – we whiled away a sunny afternoon eating and lazing on the cushions of a fabulous restaurant, Bivouac Igueldane, in the heart of the oasis.

Bivouac Igueldane consists of multiple individual adobe straw huts, with carpets, rugs and cushions, and where food is served on low tables. The menu is limited – tagine or tagine, so we had a chicken tagine – but it was huge and very delicious, served with warm freshly baked flat bread.

Our bellies full, we lay down on the carpets and cushions, chatting, dozing, drinking mint tea – is there any better way to spend time?

Chicken tagine at Tiout — a huge tagine!

My Airbnb accommodation

I have to mention my Airbnb accommodation because it was perfect for my needs and the hosts (Naima and Laurent) were just so lovely.

It was a lovely shady leafy roof terrace on the outskirts of the city with the hosts living in the flat below. Every time I opened the door to the terrace, I would breath a deep sigh of happiness at the green abundance that greeted me.

The space consists of an outdoor living area with a table, chairs and hammocks – protected from the sun and occasional rain by a bamboo covering. A bedroom, bathroom and gym, and small kitchen each leading separately off from the outdoor space. The bedroom and kitchen are decorated in the Moroccan style, and the bathroom is slate grey contemporary.

Oh and on the ground floor at street level, I had access to a full office which was such a great work space.

Breakfast was included which was a real treat and the things Naima could do with eggs – well, I never knew there were so many ways to cook an egg (bearing in mind I was there for a month)!

I also enjoyed some great meals – chicken tagines, Naima’s mum’s chicken cous cous, fish ball tagine, home baked cakes…suffice to say I’ve put on a few pounds.

Laurent and Naima were incredibly helpful. On my first day, they drove me into town so I could get my bearings. Naima told the butcher not to sell me any meat that would make me ill (always helpful). A few days later she took me to the local hammam to make sure I found the place and didn’t get ripped off! She even instructed me on the correct way to make mint tea for which I am grateful as I love mint tea.

Laurent is a mind of information about the local area and very friendly. I enjoyed many interesting conversations. He’s also a keen astronomer and during my stay he placed a telescope on the roof, in the hope of getting a closer look at the comet which proved to elusive; however, I did view Saturn and this really blew me away! I’d never looked through a telescope before and seeing a planet that I’d only seen pictures of was just magical.

I felt a palpable sense of awe that laying beneath the stars back in Italy, I’d felt a pull to Morocco and there I was high up on a roof top in a small Moroccan city close to the desert looking at Saturn. My trust in the universe and my own intuition to lead me in the right direction was deepened.